//php print $title; ?>

Compressor Design for UAV Air Ejector System

Innovative Scientific Solutions, Inc. (ISSI) is a company in Dayton, Ohio that performs engineering research and development for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and several other federal customers. This design is comprised of a lightweight air compressor subsystem for an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) that has a high pressure ratio and a sufficient mass flow rate to improve the flight efficiency.

This air compressor designed will eventually be integrated onto a UAV and work as an air ejector system. This works by sending the compressed air to each wing and ejecting it over the airfoil to improve the overall flight characteristics of the UAV.

The design package delivers two separate designs that both achieve all of the key success measures: a centrifugal compressor and a rotary vane compressor. Concept sketches of both designs can be seen on the this page and the next. While both designs achieve the key success measures, there are trade-offs between the designs which will become important in future air ejector system implementation choices. The key differences in the performance of the designs includes significant trade-offs between the two compressor designs. The main difference between the two comes in terms of weight and cost. The centrifugal compressor is more expensive, but it is also significantly lighter than the rotary vane compressor. Both are desirable in their own way to the sponsor and creating two separate designs has been invaluable.